Your guide to all things prospect, courtesy of Jonathan Mayo

Draft stuff

I know, thrilling title. But what can you do? It fits.

It’s been busy here in Draft-ville, what with the big day coming up on Monday. My latest mock is up on the site now, if you’d like to check it out. I’m sure there will be plenty of changes for the final one coming late Sunday or early Monday.

I’m using that very generic headline because I wanted to use this post just to pass along some tidbits about what’s going on.

First thing to talk about is NCAA Regional play starting tomorrow (Friday). It’s the very last time for the college players to make an impression. Here’s some information of where you can catch some top Draft talent:

Charlottesville: Danny Hultzen will make his final pre-Draft start on Saturday against St. John’s or East Carolina.

Los Angeles: Gerrit Cole goes on Friday against San Francisco. It stands to reason that Trevor Bauer will follow on Saturday against UC Irvine or Fresno State.

Fort Worth: Kyle Winkler, who stepped in as the Friday starter and has excelled, isn’t pitching TCU’s first game of the Regional. That honor goes to Andrew Mitchell, but keep an eye out for Winkler and Matt Purke in later games.

Houston: No top pitchers here, but Anthony Rendon will be in action for Rice. Will his work at second base continue?

Tallahassee: Florida State’s Sean Gilmartin, a polished lefty, will not pitch against Peter O’Brien and Bethune-Cookman on Friday

Clemson: This might be the best Friday matchup in the nation. UConn is sending Matt Barnes to the mound. Coastal Carolina is countering with their ace Anthony Meo, who’s fresh off a conference tournament no-hitter.

Austin: Sam Stafford may be pitching the opener for Texas on Friday, but don’t fret. Ace Taylor Jungmann will go on Saturday.

Nashville: Vanderbilt has a whole mess of draftable talent, highlighted by ace Sonny Gray, of course. But there’s also 3B Jason Esposito and LHP Grayson Garvin, all of whom should go in the first couple of rounds.

Corvallis: Oregon State lefty Josh Osich, who’s crept into some late first round talk, will start on Saturday against either Georgia or Creighton. And, of course, Andrew Susac will there to add to the first round buzz.

Fullerton: Starting pitching-wise, there are some interesting names, like CSF’s Noe Ramirez, but the guy I’d want to see is Stanford’s Chris Reed, who’s been moving up boards. He’s their closer, but many think he can start at the next level.

Chapel Hill: It seems nearly certain that UNC’s Levi Michael will go in the first round, but where? The team that thinks he can stay at short might be the one to take him. Check out this regional to form your own opinion.

In other news…

Anthony Rendon’s medical report has recached teams and they are currently reviewing it. No news yet what the report means, but how teams evaluate the information they are given about the Rice third baseman’s shoulder could determine where he goes at the top of the first round.

Remember my favorite topic, Amir Garrett? Well, it seems like the hoops recruit (St. John’s) who’s at least toying with the idea of pitching instead, threw to live hitters for the first time since he started workouts for scouts. The lefty threw to hitters from the College of Southern Nevada, where Garrett has had his other bullpen sessions. According to one source, he was up to 95 mph and continued to show improvement with his curve and changeup, throwing 55 pitches in total. There are a number of teams who have continued to show interest in Garrett and he might try to squeeze in one more private workout before Draft day. It’s going to take a good bonus to sign him away from basketball, but there are teams that might be willing to meet that price after taking him in the second or third round.

Finally, wanted to share a few things with you. As part of this crazy lead up to the Draft, I get asked to do a fair amount of interviews to talk about it. A variety of markets, different media, so I figured I’d add some links of stuff I’ve been doing. Much of it is from a particular team’s perspective, focusing in on the local market.

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1 Comment

Thank’s Jonathon for putting up with my over the top opinion’s on Skaggs , Miller and Webster. Miller and Webster have been promoted and Skaggs was the top vote getter for pitchers for the California All star team. I read somewhere that Baseball America will be hosting a cable tv show like MLB > Any truth ? Also, were you a player? I’m curious as to your baseball back ground . I respect and enjoy your work, Does MILB have any plans for a TV show?

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